ROMAN

I felt slimy agreeing to work with Nyx, but I had to remind myself that this was all for a good cause. I wasn't going to be hunting any gifted wolves for him. Instead, Scarlett and I were going to take him down.

He'd shown up at my pack - unannounced. He knew our location, and that irked me. It meant that keeping Scarlett safe was going to be harder than I thought. I cursed to myself as I shut my laptop, bouncing my muscular leg under the table. Perhaps this would be easier if Brandon and Erica knew? They'd be able to monitor Scarlett and I was sure they'd have some good advice.

However, I wouldn't burst her bubble without her permission. This was her secret to tell, and I was going to respect her wishes. She would tell people when she was ready, and I had no doubt they'd accept her when they did come to realise she was actually a gifted wolf.

She hadn't socialised much with the pack, but the people she had spoken to loved her. There was something about Scarlett that just made you want to smile. She was warm. Sarcastic and sassy, but bubbly and kind-hearted. She looked at everyone she met with kind eyes - being open-minded and judging no one.

Nyx had been emailing me over the past few days. I was yet to respond to any of them - they didn't interest me. However, I knew I needed to keep up the facade that I was interested in working with him, so I quickly opened up my laptop and shot him a blunt but responsive reply. I didn't want to come across too keen. Otherwise, he'd see right through me. I needed to show some hesitancy.

That way, he'd reveal more information in order to get me to trust him.

I hummed as someone knocked on my office door, and I cocked my head to see Erica peek through.

"Is Brandon here?" she questioned, her hands covering her slightly swollen belly.

I shook my head. "He left about ten minutes ago."

"Oh, okay, thanks. Is it alright if I quickly photocopy some stuff?" Erica stepped into the room after seeing my nod, moving over to the photocopier in the room's corner, shuffling some papers around. "So, how's it going with Scarlett?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Fine. Why?"

Erica shrugged. "Well, I know you said she was acting a little strange. Lying about some stuff."

I clicked my tongue. "I think I was overreacting a little." The lie fell from my tongue with ease. "I was just worried about her." I didn't want Erica suspecting Scarlett - not when my mate wanted to keep her identity hidden for the time being. I needed to play it off as if I was just being overbearing.

"I know how you feel," Erica sighed, staring blankly at the files the photocopier was working on.

"What do you mean?" I moved from my desk to stand next to her.

"I don't know. It might just be the pregnancy hormones talking, but Brandon's been a little distant the past week or so. I don't know why, and whenever I try to talk to him about it, he claims he's just stressed with work and doesn't have time to discuss it." Erica's bottom lip quivered. She never cried. She wasn't an overly emotional person, and the sight made my throat tighten.

I hadn't noticed my brother's distance myself, but that was because we were always working together. Erica was pregnant and needed her mate more than ever, and although I appreciated his help with keeping the pack running smoothly, he couldn't abandon his mate when she was in need. She had to come first - I had the pack work covered for the most part.

"Work has been taking over our lives recently," I stated, suddenly realising how much I'd also been throwing myself into it. Scarlett and I hadn't done anything couple-like. Guilt swarmed over me. "How about I organise an evening together? We can have a fire and have drinks?" My eyes flickered down to Erica's stomach. "Well, you can have some mocktails."

A laugh bubbled up in her throat, and she nodded, a grateful smile appearing on her lips. "I'd really like that Roman, thank you."

"Of course, I-"

Suddenly, the alarm sounded from above us, and Erica turned to me wide-eyed, her mouth down-turned and her hand flying to her chest in panic. The sound was piercing, causing my eardrums to pulsate with displeasure, and the noise of frightened muttering from outside my office reached my ears.

The alarm was something we'd put in place years ago in every building, but it had only ever been used once. It was a button that was pushed when something was a danger to the pack - a sign that the vulnerable and the children needed to make their way to the bunkers - and it caused an obnoxious alarm to blare out in every building in the pack. Including people's homes.

I flung my office door open, ushering Erica out first. Everyone was filing out of their offices, looking at me expectedly with worried looks. "Keep moving! If you're considered vulnerable, head to the bunkers immediately! If not, head to the meeting point!" I yelled out, moving past people quickly.

I needed to get to my mate. She was downstairs in the library, and I came to realise I'd never explained the alarm's meaning to her. She was probably freaking out. I flung the glass doors to the library open, spotting her concerned face immediately.

"Roman, what's happening?" she asked as she rushed over to me, her voice loud over the blaring alarm.

"Someone's pulled the panic alarm. It means someone is probably here that shouldn't be. Quick, follow Erica to the bunkers!" I placed my hand on her lower back, ushering Erica over quickly. The girls linked arms in panic, and I leaned forward to cup my mate's cheeks. "You'll be fine, okay? Just stay down there and remain quiet. Someone will come to let you know when it's safe to come out."

Scarlett scowled. "Why do I have to go down in the bunker? I know how to fight."

There was no way I was going to allow her to fight with us. She was vulnerable. If anyone were to see her mark, then she'd be captured and handed over to Nyx. "No, Scarlett. You know why. Please, just follow Erica, alright? For me."

I understood my mate wanted to stand up to whoever was endangering the pack. I loved her for it, but it was too much of a risk. For all I knew, the wolves ambushing our pack were actually here for her. Was it Nyx? Had he figured out that I was mated to a gifted wolf? Nausea set in.

After pressing a soft kiss to Scarlett's head, I watched as she disappeared with a small crowd of others toward the underground bunker. Leaving the office complex, I caught sight of a guard. "Who sounded the alarm?"

"Piper did," he said, gesturing to a large beefy guard, the small vibrating alarm device clutched in his hand. Each guard had one that activated the larger alarms, and they pressed them when needed. "Rogues have been spotted at the border. They're looking for a way in. There are tons of them."

My brows flew into my hairline. "Rogues?" They hadn't bothered us for years. We were a large pack, and they usually didn't mess with us because they knew they'd lose.

"How many of them are there?" I asked as we jogged to the meeting point by the forest, and the guard hummed, shrugging.

"Too many to count. It's as if many individual rogues have band together. They all smell different, so they're not a pack."

We had a few meeting points throughout the pack. Certain guards were assigned to different ones, but the one I was in charge of was where most of the guards waited for instructions. We'd do most of the attacking, and other pack members would wait in the middle of the pack, ready to attack if anyone got in. However, it was unlikely that they would since our defence was so good.

"You all know what to do. Show no mercy. Slaughter them all," I ordered, nodding towards the forest, causing my guards to shift into their wolves and run into the eerie shrubbery. I wasn't opposed to showing mercy to wolves that meant no harm, but rogues were notorious for brutality.

They enjoyed tormenting packs and killing unnecessarily, and I saw this as no different. These rogues were asking for trouble, and they would not back down. But neither would we. Whatever they wanted, they weren't going to get.

I leapt into the air, shifting into my large dark wolf. Saliva dripped from my fangs as my paws pounded against the thick mud beneath me. Wind whizzed past my ears, and I howled loudly once I spotted a skinny-looking rogue in front of me. Its eyes were a piercing yellow colour, and it bared its teeth, taking a threatening step forward.

I wasted no time in leaping forwards and pinning the rogue to the ground, but it kicked out, its claws scraping against my skin and causing blood to seep out from the open wound on my stomach. I hissed in pain, but ignored the burning sensation as I clamped down on the rogue's neck, silencing its growls.

I perked my head up to see rogues moving like working bees around us, some of my guards kicking them to the ground and ripping their jugulars out.

God, even after seeing us murder other rogues right in front of them, they were still eager to get inside of my pack. They weren't going to give up, and it was clear they wanted something.

A child's cry sounded from behind me, and I swivelled my head to see a young boy around the age of four or five. He looked panicked, tears flowing down his cheeks as he called out for his mother, clearly lost.

Many of my guards were also looking out of fear that the child had been hurt, and a few pack members on the pack lands moved to shield the boy from the view of the carnage, directing him towards the bunker where his mother would be. She was probably inside freaking out since when inside, no one was allowed to leave until told otherwise.

The distraction allowed a few smaller and more agile rogues to rush past us, heading straight for the pack.

Wyatt barked from next to me, gaining my attention to one rogue that was weaving in and out of our guards. It moved quickly, skidding along the mud and ducking under the larger wolves. I ran after him, nipping at his tail and dragging him back, shoving his body into the dirt. Rage coarse through my body at the nerve he had to try and storm into my pack.

I didn't even think twice about killing him, and I heard more commotion from behind me. Rogues surrounded us, sprinting into the pack.

My panicked eyes eyed up the bunker's entrance - concealed by some shrubbery and rocks.

A huff left my snout as I was thrown to the ground, and I yanked myself from my worry to growl at the rogue who'd just thumped me in the chest. It stood tall in front of me, and I bared my teeth, allowing it to see the blood dripping from my mouth. The blood of one of their fellow rogues.

However, the crimson liquid didn't deter the rogue, and they lunged at me. I dodged it with a millisecond to spare, its fangs scraping the ends of my fur, and I vibrated with anger as I jumped on it and tore a hole in its chest. Blood spouted out like a fountain, and within seconds, the rogue stilled, indicating it was dead.

Fuck. There were so many of them. We were a powerful pack, but we were greatly outnumbered here. We were putting up a hell of a fight, but all a rogue needed was a second advantage to get in.

I killed rogue after rogue, blood coating my fur. My pack members had murdered most of the smaller wolves that had entered our lands, but my eyes widened with panic once I spotted a few nearing the entrance of the bunker.

The bunker that had my mate and my pack members in.

I felt teeth rip at my leg, and I growled loudly, snapping at the rogue that had dug into the flesh of my thigh. Blood leaked from the deep wound, and even when I tried to move past it to head towards the rogues near the bunker, it stood tall in front of me, blocking me and snarling in my face.

It was trying to intimidate me, but it merely amused me, and I ripped its skin from its chest.

The rogues yipped as a few of them squeezed their way into the bunker, some of them being stopped and torn apart by my guards and pack members. However, they couldn't stop them all, and my heart thumped inside my chest with fear.

Fuck.

Scarlett.